As we get ready to leave our 'home' here at Camp Shelby and settle into our new 'home' at NTC (National Training Center) at Ft. Irwin, California I begin to realize it's the little things that make the big difference.

Our weekly bible study is looking at the book of Joshua since we thought it would be a good book to study as we plan to move into a war zone and need the reminder of God's presence.  It's encouraging that in the first chapter Joshua is told by God to be strong and courageous a number of times.  Even to a man that sought God his whole life, who didn't waiver in his faith even as he wandered with Moses and the Israelites - he needed encouragement when faced with the unknown - when faced with what seems too big an assignment.  Yet God continued to be with him, to encourage him and to direct him.

The other thing we noticed was in Chapter 3 - the decision had been made to cross over the Jordan, everyone is there and on the same page and then the scriptures says "After three days . . "  Why the wait?  Why not go right away?  I think this shows the military has always practiced the 'hurry up and wait"! We are told that the Israelites needed to consecrate themselves - this was not something to just jump into but that there was something they needed to remember  - they were being set apart not for themselves but for the work of God.

So as we wait - not three days but three months before crossing over to go to Afghanistan I seek to see how I can consecrate myself and my soldiers to prepare for what is to come.  To remember I've been called to this place and that it's not for myself but for what God desires.  I imagine those three days must have been hard after waiting so long just as these three months seem long after preparing all year for this deployment.

So we seek to learn in the waiting and hold onto the little things that make each day meaningful.  It's hard especially on those soldiers who do not have a greater sense or a relationship with God; so I seek to find ways to make the time bearable. As many of you know last weekend was the Iowa/Iowa State game - to boost morale and just to give a bit of a change of pace of the monotony that life at Shelby has become we were able to arrange a battalion wide cookout.  Talk about such a small thing that affected people in a large way.  Often I feel how am I sharing the gospel - hospitality is a sign of God's presence and helping the soldiers know that we care not just about them being good soldiers but that they as individuals matter as well. 

It was effective in breaking up the waiting - and now we get a change of scenery even if it means living in tents on cots in the desert for a month :-) I will be out of contact for the next month as we are not allowed electronics yet when I come back to Shelby mid-October I will be excited to share how God moved and displayed himself in the waiting.

God bless - Martha+